Someone save me…"
The words slipped from Anya's lips like a breath she hadn't meant to let go, rising toward the sliver of sky above her. The clouds didn't answer.
"Wake up," a man's voice snapped.
Her eyes fluttered open, vision blurred.
"I said—WAKE UP."
The shout was followed by a sharp kick to her ribs. Pain lanced through her side, and she rolled over onto the cold dirt floor, gasping.
A looming shadow blocked the dim light seeping through the cracked boards of the ceiling. A man stood over her, his scarred face twisted into a scowl.
"Wake up, brat."
"My name isn't 'brat'…" Anya croaked. Her throat felt raw, her voice small. "It's Anya."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you call yourself." He crouched down, his gaze cold. "Get up. Someone's here to buy you."
Her blood ran cold. "But… I'm only fifteen!"
He didn't care. "Doesn't matter. You're worth more than the others."
The air seemed to thicken around her, and then—
THUD.
She hit the ground hard, the taste of dust and blood filling her mouth. His boot pressed down on her back, forcing her into the dirt.
"You think you're tough?" he sneered.
"I… I'm sor—"
"Who said you could talk?" His voice was like a blade, cutting the words from her mouth.
Anya shut her eyes, trying not to cry. She had learned quickly that tears were a kind of weakness these men liked to see. She thought about the open sky again, the stars she couldn't see. Somewhere out there, the world was still moving, still full of people who weren't trapped in this place.
Footsteps approached from the doorway—a different rhythm, lighter but deliberate.
"She's the one?" a voice asked. It was unfamiliar, calm, and carried the faintest edge of interest.
"Yeah," the man above her said. "You won't find better stock in this dump."
Anya's hands curled into fists. She didn't know who this new figure was or why they were here. But the words "buy you" still echoed in her mind, and something in her chest—small, desperate, and furious—began to burn.
She didn't know it yet, but this day would set her on a path leading far beyond the rotten boards of this cell… toward gilded halls, poisoned crowns